Sissela Bok received the George Orwell Award and the Melcher Book Award for Lying : Moral Choice in Public and Private Life. Bok examines the effects of lying and deception upon society and individuals, challenging the reader to consider any justifications that might exist for this pervasive practice.
This book guides us through a journey fraught with moral and ethical questions, covering a full spectrum from white lies to those that might be necessary for survival when faced with serious dangers. In questioning whether any degree of lying can be justified, Bok provides many examples from daily life to illustrate the perspectives of both the liar and the deceived.

Addressing the power of lying in modern society, this book stimulates the reader into becoming more aware of its consequences for social behaviour. By using a philosophical approach with contrasting opinions and beliefs, Bok offers some refreshing insights intended to enable the reader to resolve the associated ethical dilemma.

Sissela Myrdal Bok is Senior Visiting Fellow at the
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and a
Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
A former member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, she serves on the editorial
board of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, and
on the boards of Common Knowledge, and Ethical Theory and Moral Practice.
During her distinguished academic career she has published
a series of books based upon the ideals of universal human values.
Sissela Bok received the George Orwell Award and the Melcher Book Award for Lying : Moral Choice in Public and Private Life. Widely respected as a modern philosopher, Sissela originally read psychology at university, in deference to the wishes of her mother Nobel Peace Laureate Alva Myrdal. Being the daughter of two Nobel Prize winners, with her father Gunnar Myrdal awarded the Nobel prize for economics, Sissela Myrdal Bok offers a rich intellectual perspective in her own work.